IATP 2016 Conference Interview Series, Part 2

Frank ‘the Crank’ Seninsky interviews Caleb Hailey, Director of Project Management at Best American Trampolines during the 4th annual conference that took place in Nashville, Tennessee.

Frank: “Caleb, I’ve heard a lot about Best American (Trampolines) at this trade show, this year. Tell me a little bit about why Best American is the best.”

Caleb: “Best American is the best because we have the heaviest frames, we are the fastest on install – our closest competitor is two-to-three weeks. The design aspect is what we pride ourselves on, designing these facilities for the end-user – with all the different elements we can add: the ninja courses, the ropes courses, obstacles, the X-beam and gladiator pits, all added with the trampoline aspects that we do.”

Frank: “Wow! Where are you located?”

Caleb: “We are located in Plano, Texas. We do all our manufacturing out of Plano.”

Frank: “So, USA manufacturing?”

Caleb: “USA, all in Texas, yes sir.”

Frank: “Very cool. What about some new products?”

Caleb: “Ninja is really starting to come into the industry. The changing of the different elements in that, trying to make a thing that can be updated all the time with different elements, into the same structure. American Ninja Warrior has been huge on TV and it seems the kids like to do that now, so that’s why we’re adding those in.”

Frank: “Tell me about the pits – the things that people jump in. I know that it’s cool when it’s really hard to get out of. What do you guys do to make it difficult to get out?”

Caleb: “Difficult to get out is just the foam cubes in an X-Beam type of thing. The trick is to roll to get yourself on top of the foam. If not, everybody is going to the airbag system in a lot of these facilities now.”

Frank: “Which do you like better?”

Caleb: “For the airbag that replaces the foam pit, I would definitely go with an air bag. The X-beam, or the jousting pits, I would definitely stick with the foam. But they are also designed to go with an airbag if you want to move toward an all-airbag system.”

Frank: “What’s your future outlook for the trampoline association, and as an industry?”

Caleb: “I think it’s evolving. It’s not just trampolines in a room anymore. Design has to be a big factor in it, as does retail, and figure out what family entertainment is going to be here all the time. It’s adding new elements to it. I think that’s where it’s going but I think it’s going to be here a long time.”

Frank: “Do you think the U.S. is almost saturated, and that the international (market) is going to boom over the next few years?”

Caleb: “I think we haven’t even scratched the surface on international.”

Frank: “What are the hot areas of the world right now?”

Caleb: “China is big, the U.K., Europe is big…we have a couple of parks going up in France and Poland. So, I think international is going to be a big thing for us.”